Eyes To The Moon
by SpiritOfSong
Summary: Aria Brave is the Spirit of Music and Bravery. On a fateful walk in Burgess, she meets someone she never wanted to see again: Jack Frost. He was the first NOT to believe in her. Will Aria forgive Jack for something he doesn't know he did? Why IS the Bogeyman so interested in Aria? Remember to review!
1. The Frosted Boy of Burgess

**I don't own Rise of the Guardians. This is actually Eyes To The Moon 2.0, because I decided to replace the first one.**

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I am not happy with the moon. He put me here and won't tell me why. My name is Aria Brave. I don't know who I am except that I am the Spirit of Bravery and Music. An awful combo if you ask me. I live alone in an abandoned house in France. It has running water (Thank goodness!) and electricity but I am tired of being here. I have been around this area for so long. 945 years, to be precise. Sure there are other spirits like the Sandman (Who I am rather fond of, I've met him before) and the Easter Kangaroo but he hates me for ruining Easter last year (and I quote "Your music is distracting the Easter egg hunters!" so I turned my iPod up and as a result, I got pounded to a pulp, I'm still healing. He also snapped my Ipod. I hate him now.). I usually stroll the woods and the lake near my home singing. Today, I plan to fly all the way down to Pennsylvania for a while. I pull out my iPod and start flying. I reach Pennsylvania within the hour, thanks to my wings. I start to sing along to the song I'm listening to as I land in a forest near a lake. It's a duet but I have no one else to sing it with. It's called Just Give Me A Reason by P!nk. I begin to walk and I feel like someone's watching me. I find a calm spot and relax on the edge of the frozen lake.

_Just give me a reason__  
__Just a little bit's enough__  
__Just a second we're not broken just bent__  
__And we can learn to love again__  
__It's in the stars__  
__It's been written in the scars on our hearts__  
__We're not broken just bent__  
__And we can learn to love again_

I stand and a boy with white hair strolls out of the woods. I try my hardest to act casual, I'm not around other people, well, at all, really. Hold on... I recognize him! He's the guy who... Never mind. "Hey, I'm Aria Brave." I say, sticking out my hand. He moves the staff he's holding to his other hand.

"Jack Frost. You've got a wonderful voice." he replies, shaking my hand. Man, he has such stunning eyes... 'Stop it!' I think to myself. 'You've only just met him!' "Huh, you look mortal." he states, rather confused. "Whoa! Does that mean I have a believer?"_  
_"No, I'm a spirit. Sorry, Frost," I reply mischievously and unfold my wings. They're 13 feet on each side and a bright, shimmery gold that Sandy says matches my boyishly-short, ginger hair perfectly. He gapes at them and I smirk. "I'm the Spirit of Music and Bravery." I explain.

"Spirit of Winter," he replies, still shocked. I fold my wings back close and he shakes himself. "No wonder you've got such a great voice! You're an angel!" I blush slightly. "I'm going to call you Angel from now on, okay?" I nod "Hey, what happened to you?" he asks, finally taking in my bruised and battered form.

I wince. "The Easter Kangaroo happened." He looks on in shock and laughs.

"I know you're the Spirit of Bravery and all … but taking on the kangaroo?" he asks. I smile.

"Long story short, Easter, my loud music got louder, Bunnymund broke my iPod, I broke his face-" he laughs "and failed so he broke mine." I finish my story and we stroll around the lake. "So, what can you do, other than cause snow days?" I ask after a while. He snaps out of his little daze.

"Oh, Aria, I don't just bring snow, I bring fun with every snowflake!" he exclaims proudly.

"So, how do you get around?" I wonder.

"I fly..." he says.

"How? You don't have wings, I don't think..." I ponder his flight.

"Watch." he boasts. He jumps to the air and... falls flat on his face. I laugh harder than I have in 100 years and that was with Sandy, who doesn't talk. He looks up sheepishly. "I usually fly on the wind but looks like it's not trying that hard to help." I snicker more and he gets up and tries again. He soars into the air on the wind. I unfurl my wings and join him in the sky. We fly over the night-time Burgess. We land in an alley, laughing like kids.

"That was the most fun I've had in a LONG time!"

"It was only half an hour!"

"I know!" I tilt my head slightly, listening. "Jack," I say, slowly backing up from the alley, folding my wings as I do.

"What?"

"Duck." He pauses for a split-second, then ducks. A boomerang whips over his head and back into the hand- er, PAW of its owner.

"Brave, Frost, been a while hasn't it?" asks an annoyingly familiar Australian accent.

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**Soooo... Guys, you didn't vote the poll... I'm going to post this in place of the old one. If I get an overwhelming amount of complaints, the old one will return. Thanks. ~SpiritofSong**


	2. The Guardians of Childhood

**I don't own ROTG.**

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"Bunnymund," I say stiffly. He gives me a curt nod and leaves the shadows.

"Brave," he replies.

"Been a while, eh?"

"A year."

"Almost to the day." I wrap tendrils of soft blue sand around each other to create two ropes chains, my preferred weapons. The sand emits a soft eerie song as they clunk into my hands. He notices.

"Nah, mate. I'm here to take you somewhere." I cock my head in confusion.

"Huh? Where?"

"Fellas." A huge furry hand lifts me by the nape of the neck.

"Hey!" I twist and writhe. The huge hand pushes me into a velvet red sack. I kick at it. "OI! LET ME OUT, YOU IMBECILES STUPIDE!" Another body gets shoved in, bringing gusts of cold air. Skin contact shows me that it's Jack, because he's as cold as ice. I feel weightless as they toss the sack through the air. A rough landing on a stone floor makes me wince.

"Sorry, Aria!" Jack says, commenting on the awkward position we landed in.

"S'okay."

"What is this? Only the Frost boy should have come!" says a thick Russian accent. The sack opens and we're pulled out by two huge creatures.

"Put me down," I snap. The creature drops me. "Bâtards." I pick myself up and let my blue sand chains clunk into my hands. That's when I see who is standing in front of me, tall man with a beard and tattooed arms, Bunnymund, of course, a woman with feathers that reminds me of a hummingbird, and Sandy. "Sandy!" I start to run to him, but one of the huge creatures scoops me up. "Hey!" I smack it with a chain and it drops me. I kneel in front of Sandy. "Bonjour, Sablé!" He flashes some sand pictures. "I don't know what I'm doing here! That stupid kangourou and his créatures énormes baise shoved me in a sack and tossed me through!" More pictures. "Oui, Jack came too." Rapid-fire pictures, which I understand. "What do you mean, la putain lune?" A reprimanding finger for my language. "Désolé." More pictures. "What do you mean, I'm a putain erreur?!"

"Enough with the silly language. Who ARE you?" the tall Russian man asks. I stand.

"Excusez-vous, vas te faire encule grossier. French is NOT silly!" I straighten up to my full height of five feet eight inches. "My name is Aria Brave, and I am apparently a mistake."

"Yes, is right. Man in Moon only chose Jack Frost."

"L'homme dans la Lune putain?! He talks to you, Engelures, but not me? VA TE FAIRE FOUTRE, HOMME DANS LA LUNE!"

"No, he DOESN'T talk to me!"

"There's no call for that language, miss!" the feathered woman says. I stop mid-curse.

"Excusez-moi?"

"There's no call for-"

"Oui, oui, I heard you. Who ARE you?" I ask, barely containing my anger.

"The T-Tooth Fairy!" she squeaks.

"Vous voulez dire celui qui a gardé mes putains de souvenirs loin de moi?! Je ne sais pas qui je suis!" I rant, throwing my arms into the air as I do. I pause for breath.

"You done, mate?" Bunny asks tentatively. I glare.

"No, because NONE of you understood a single word I said. My name is Aria Brave, and you," I point an accusing finger at the fairy. "Kept my memories away from me. Locked me out of your palace without even asking who I was or why I was there." The bird-woman blushes. I cross my arms and turn away. I snap open my wings and fly to the top of a huge globe in the centre of the room.

"You are not allowed up there, Aria," the Russian man says.

"Embrasser mon âne, vous ne pouvez pas me faire descendre. Vous ne pouvez même pas voler ... Hum ..." I mutter, loving the effect I'm having on him. I swirl a bit of blue sand around my fingers, making pictures and figures like Sandy. I create a ball so I can sculpt my first figure. I decide to make the odd, dark man who comes to visit me and tries to get me to join him. He has a hooked nose, grey skin, gold eyes, spiky black hair, and pointy teeth in a malicious smile. He calls himself Pitch. I listen to the group below me chatter and I learn their names. The bird-lady is Tooth, and the Russian guy is North, or Santa Clause. Tooth flitters up to the top of the globe. She looks at the figure in my hands and gasps. She snatches the figure from me and speeds back down to the others. They exchange a few worried murmurs and glances. Jack flies up to me.

"Hey."

"Hi." There's an awkward silence. He scoots a little closer and I scoot farther away. "Don't come closer."

"Why?"

"You'll die slowly."

"How?"

"Pitch."

"Who?"

"I dunno, some guy who threatens anyone who gets close to me. I used to have a friend named Eve. EveShisō. She's the spirit of Imagination and Thoughts. Pitch found out we were friends, so he took her and made her a slave to a friend of his."

"That's terrible!" Sandy floats up to us. His sand images make no sense, for once.

"Sablé, slow down!" He spells out his message in dream sand instead.

"Eve Shisō?"

"Oui..."

"I always wondered what happened to her! She taught me how to do something AMAZING!"

"She... taught you?"

"How to make me big!"

"Big?"

"Like you!"

"Like, tall?"

"Yes!"

"Can you show us?"

"She says I'd need someone to recite something."

"I can do that!"

"Okay." He spells out something for me to say, and I recite it. Golden sand swirls around him, and when it fades, Sandy is taller than Jack, about five foot eleven. His golden hair is swept back and he wears a long golden coat and pants, pointed golden shoes, and a scarf tucked into the coat.

"You look great, Sablé!" He smiles. Jack nudges me and points to the other three oddballs. They gape at Sandy.

"Sandy!" Tooth exclaims. She flits up to us. "You look great!" He flashes pictures to show his thanks. Tooth pulls him back down to the two flightless men. Jack and I exchange a look. We start to sneak away, to get a look around, but North calls out.

"Jack! Come here!" I start to follow them. "Just Jack." I sigh.

"If you aren't keeping me here, why not give me a means of travel?"

"Because we may need you." I groan and fly away. I find myself wandering the workshop and open up a door. A bunch of beautiful ice sculptures glitter inside the room.

"Wow..." I shut the door behind me as I leave. Eventually, I get bored and sit down in a living room I found earlier. I swirl music sand around my fingers and sigh. A tendril of music sand turns black for no reason. I feel my heart race in fear. What's wrong with my sand?! I trap the black tendril in my hands and run, not fly, run, around the halls, looking for someone. I see the ice-sculpture room from before with two people shadowing the door. I pound on the door.

"Busy!" North calls.

"S'il vous plaît!" I cry, my voice breaking. The door clanks and creaks open. North looks concerned and I see Jack behind him. "S'il vous plaît! S'il vous plaît aidez-moi! Mon sable est noir! Qu'est-ce qui se passe?! Aidez-moi!" I shove my cupped hands towards him. North opens my hands.

"Where did you get this?"

"C'est ma propre sable! Il est devenu noir et et-aidez-moi!" I conjure up some blue sand with my free hand and hold it out to him. It slowly turns black. "Aider!" Sandy walks around the corner, still tall. I run to him. "Sablé! Regardez! Je ne sais pas ce qui se passe! Ma poitrine me fait mal, je ne peux pas bouger mes ailes, je suis_ EFFRAYÉ_!" I feel tears well in my eyes. " Sablé..." My vision goes black and I collapse.

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**Sorry if the French sucks. I used Google Translate... ~SpiritofSong**


	3. The Bogeyman

**I don't own ROTG.**

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_Jack's POV_

After Angel collapses, there's a flurry of panic. Sandy scoops her up and North leads us quickly to the infirmary. Tooth joins us, along with Bunny. Sandy searches Angels pocket for something. He pulls out her iPod and turns it over in his hands. He turns it on and we find that the screen is broken, badly. "Oh God... Is this my fault?" Bunny asks.

"Why would it be your fault, Bunny?" Tooth asks.

"Last year, I broke her iPod... She ruined Easter, I got mad, and... er... yeah. Except, it was broken worse..."

"Like, how much worse?"

"I snapped it in half."

"Bunny!" Tooth chides. A yeti walks in. North takes the device from Sandy.

"Does yeti think he can fix this?" The yeti garbles something. "Good. Do it." The yeti takes the iPod. "Yeti will fix iPod. In meantime, Sandy, you can use dream sand to get black stuff out of her, yes?" Sandy nods. "Good." Sandy swirls tendrils of golden sand above Angel's head, figuring out what's wrong, I think. He pokes me.

"Yes?" He flashes pictures. "Why not just write it out?"

"Good point," he spells out. "Aria will be fine, the black sand is repelled by the dream sand. I think when her iPod is fixed, she'll wake."

"Thanks, Sandy." We sit in silence for a few moments. "Sandy? Why does she speak French?"

"I don't know, she doesn't even know herself, like she said, she doesn't have her memories."

"Oh."

"All I can tell is that she died around then middle of the Dark Ages and she was only fourteen." I think over that.

"Wait, her memories?!"

"Yes, from when she was human."

"Wait, what?"

"We were all someone before we were who we are now, even Bunny." He smiles. "You should've SEEN Bunny!" The yeti comes barging back in. He hands me the repaired iPod.

"That was fast..."

"Yetis are efficient," North says, entering the room again. Angel sits up.

"Mon Dieu, what happened?"

"You blacked out after your sand turned black." Angel swirls some blue sand into existence. She stares at it intently.

"No blackness here, Engelures."

"What does that even mean?"

"What, Engelures?" I nod. "Frostbite. It's a nickname. I mean, you call me Angel!"

"Good point." Bunny comes bounding in.

"Trouble at the Tooth Palace!"

Aria's POV

"Trouble at the Tooth Palace!" I run a hand through my hair. Jack hands me my iPod and I follow North, having to run to keep up, because my wings are too big.

"Oi, North, if you're thinking I'm climbing in some rickety old sleigh, you're wrong. I'll fly."

"Nonsense, we all take sleigh!" He opens the door and I find myself breathless. The sleigh is HUGE. The reindeer are HUGE.

"Mon Dieu, Père Noël. You got upgraded!" I pet one of the reindeer gently.

"Yes, and we all ride!"

"Nah, mate, I think my tunnels are faster, and... uh, safer," Bunny says, kicking the sleigh.

"Aw, if I'm going, you're going, Kangaroo." I grab the scruff of Bunny's neck and use my wings to lift him into the sleigh.

"Buckle up!" North yells, snapping the reins.

"Wha- wha- where are the bloody seatbelts?!" Bunny cries, scrabbling around the sleigh.  
"That was just expression!" North bellows. The reindeer start to run and I lean back, wind on my face. We twist down the ice tunnels. "I hope you like the loop-de-loops!"

"I hope you like carrots," Bunny says at the exact same time as I say, "The HELL?! How is that possible?!" The reindeer launch themselves from the end of the tunnel and, after a moment of weightless falling, we're airborne. Jack whispers something in my ear and I nod. I perch on the edge of the back of the sleigh.

"Bunny! You've gotta come see this view, I-" I open my wings partially, getting swept off the sleigh.

"Agh! North-She-!" he glances over the side to see me relaxing on the runner.

"Ah, you do care."

"Aw, rack off, ya bloody show pony!" I laugh and grab the side of the sleigh beside him. I pulls myself over and nudge Sandy.

"Fun, eh?" he nods. North brings a clear ball to his lips.

"I say, Tooth Palace." He throws the ball and it opens up a portal. The sleigh flies through and I change from my normal chains to swords. Huge black THINGS fly through the air towards us. I leap into the air.

"THEY'RE TAKING THE TOOTH FAIRIES!" I call down to them. I try to slice open a THING, but it snaps at me and flies on. I land on the sleigh. Jack and I spot something at the same time and leap into the air. Almost in sync, the two of us grab two tiny fairies from the air. I look down at my hand, where the tiny fairy trembles. "Hey, Petit, you okay?" the fairy nods. I gently tuck her into my hoodie and form whips from my sand. I whip a black horse-creature from the sky, but it escapes.

"Jack! Take reins!" North calls as we approach the palace. He leaps up to the back of the sleigh with me. We exchange a look and I dissolve my blue sand. Gold whips take their place, since music can be a lullaby, I can use Sandy's sand when needed. I fall to the floor of the sleigh as Jack yanks the reins a little too hard.

"Merde! Jack!"

"Sorry!"

"Jack! Look out, damn it!" Jack swerves again and the sleigh crashes onto a platform. Tooth flits around wildly.

"No no! My fairies! The teeth! They're all gone, there's nothing left!" she cries. She rests on her knees, close to tears. I pull the tiny fairy from my pocket and approach her slowly. The fairy flitters from my hands and nestles into her neck. The little fairy Jack saved did the same. "Oh! Thank goodness, two of you are okay!" I rest a hand on Tooth's back. She looks up, a bit surprised.

"We will get them back," I say firmly. "Don't you worry 'bout a thing, Tooth." I help her up. "Until then, let's find the utter bâtard who took your fairies."

"You mean me?" asks a British-accented man. I look up.

"Pitch."

"Aria."

"I-"

"Pitch, you have ten seconds to return my fairies!" Tooth yells, flying up to him. She tries to chase him., but he melts away into the shadows.

"Or what?" Pitch asks, appearing behind us. "You'll stick a quarter under my pillow?"

"Shut up, you bâtard," I snarl.

"Again, or WHAT?"

"Or I'll kill you this time." Pitch scoffs. He drops something towards me. I catch it easily. A ball of coarse black sand rests in my hands. I show it to Sandy.

"Look familiar, Sandman? It took me a while to perfect my technique."

"So, that trick with my sand, that was you?"

"Music can be used for FEAR, Aria. As well as dreams, you can make NIGHTMARES. Join me, Aria, and we can make the strongest team these Guardians have EVER seen!" I pretend to consider it.

"Um, er, NO. No way in hell, Pitch."

"Then I can kill you."

"Pitch, I'm not afraid to take you on, you killed me in the first place, so maybe it's time for a little PAYBACK." I make and harden a few blue throwing knives. I fling one and it embeds itself in the wall beside his head. "That was a warning shot. Next time, I WON'T miss. Now off with you and your 'Nightmares'." Pitch shrugs.

"Why? I need to talk to the Guardians, and you'll just get in the way." Two nightmares pin me against the wall, my arms above my head, my feet dangling above the ground.

"Hey! Let me go! Bâtard!"

"Let her go! It's us you have a problem with!" Bunny yells, gripping a boomerang.

"Oh, go suck an egg, rabbit," Pitch says, appearing underneath Bunny. Sandy slips over to me and cuts the black sand with a golden knife.

"Why are you here?! No one's believed in you since the Dark Ages!" Bunny exclaims. Pitch puts on a dreamy look.

"Oh, the Dark Ages. Everyone frightened. Miserable! Such happy times for me. Oh, the power I wielded! But then the Man in the Moon chose you to replace my fear with your wonder and light, lifting their hearts and giving them hope. Meanwhile, everyone wrote me off as... just a bad dream! "Oh, there's nothing to be afraid of!" "There's no such thing as the bogeyman!" Well, that's all about to change!" The palace starts to crumble. "Oh, look. It's happening already."

"What is?" I ask.

"Children are waking up, and realizing the Tooth Fairy never came. It's such a little thing, but to a child..." Jack turns to Tooth.

"What's going on?" he asks her.

"They- They don't believe in me anymore," she says, shocked.

"Didn't they tell you, Jack? It's great being a Guardian, but there's a catch: If enough kids stop believing, everything your friends protect — wonder, hopes and dreams, it all goes away. And, little by little, so do they. No Christmas, or Easter, or little fairies that come in the night. There will be nothing but fear, and darkness... and me. It's your turn not to be believed in." I throw three more knives at him, slicing open his shoulder. The gold blade melts into his blood. I smirk, still in my throwing position.

"Got'cha." Pitch disappears, along with the last remaining nightmare.

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**I hope you guys are happy with the influx of chapters! ~SpiritofSong**


	4. The Loss

**I don't own ROTG.**

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I kneel by Tooth. "Tooth, what can we do?"

"N-nothing! No teeth have been collected, I'll... I'll fade!" I inhale sharply as I get an idea.

"Dent! Je sais que vous faites des économies! Idée! Idée!" She gives me a blank look. "Tooth! I know how to save you!"

"How? No fairies! No memories!"

"I'll collect the teeth!"

"On your own?!"

"No!" I pull out a small ball of blue sand. The tiny fairy, whom I've nicknamed Petit, flitters in front of me. "Petit, stay still." She hovers and I sculpt a music sand version if her. I hold it out to her. "Sablé, can I have some dream sand?" He presses some into my hand. I sprinkle it over the blue figure and it flitters to life, just like Petit, except blue. I cheer. "That's how we'll do it!"

"And we will help!" North exclaims.

"What?! It won't work! We're talking seven continents, millions of kids-!"

"Tooth! Please! I make a few more of these little guys, we'll be set!"

"And give me break. You know how many toys I deliver in one night?" North says.

"And eggs I hide in one day?" Tooth smiles.

"Jack, if you help, we can get your memories back," North bribes.

"Pfft, do I not get the same offer?" I ask. Sandy flashes rapid sand pictures at me. "Non, I don't have much of my memories... Just bits and pieces. I knew it was miserable though, so I'm a little afraid to see them."

"Doesn't bravery mean "no fear"?" Bunny asks. I glare at him.

"Get a dictionary, kangaroo," Jack says.

"Bravery is... hmm... bravery is courage, which is... doing what's right... even when you're scared, yeah, that's right. Sorry, I was translating from my French definition."

"Do you not know English fully?" Jack asks.

"Nope. Only took an interest in learning when I wanted to translate a few English songs to French, oh, about three or four years ago. I learned by listening to songs from America, not England. It seems I have a deep-set... er... inimitié ... Inimitié ... Quel est le mot anglais pour inimitié?" I mutter to myself, thinking. "Ah! Enmity! I seem to have a deep-set enmity for England!"

"Big words there, sheila," the kangaroo says.

"Bâtard."

"That's your catchphrase, ain't it, sheila?"

"Bâtard."

"You aren't going ta talk to me, are you?"

"Bâtard."

"Nope. Apparently not."

"Let us get moving!" North says, clapping his hands. "We must save Tooth!" So, on the way to the first city, I sculpt more little fairies and Sandy sprinkles dream sand on them. They flit around and deliver teeth while the Guardians, Jack and I collect teeth as well.

"Bunny!" The rabbit turns to me. "Bet'cha I can't collect more teeth than you!"

"You DON'T want to race a rabbit, mate!" I stick my tongue out at him.

"Venez à moi, lapin!" I say, flying backwards in front of him. He smirks and puts on a burst of speed. I pump my wings and catch up easily. Big wings with strong muscles and an extra-small me by today's standards equal speed. Lots of speed. "Nah nah nah-nah-nah!" I tease in a familiar tune. "Can't catch me, cottontail!" I dive into a window, grab the tooth, and leave behind a quarter. I start to fly back out, but my wings get stuck. I reach out to a passing Jack. "Hey! Help a fellow non-Guardian out!"

"Nah! It's a competition!" I pout. Sandy passes by.

"Sablé! Help?" He rolls his eyes at me and smiles. He flies over and grips my hands. After a strong tug, I burst free. "Thanks!" He smiles again, a "you're welcome!" smile. "Now, if you'll pardon me, I have to get back at a certain spirit of winter!" I fly on ahead and smack Jack in the back of the head as I pass.

"Hey!" I flip in midair, still flying, but now backwards.

"That's for abandoning me!" I stick out my tongue and fly on. After at least another few hours of tooth-collecting, Tooth, Jack, Petit, Baby Tooth, and I land on in a room with a sleeping young boy.

"Central left incisor," says Tooth. "Knocked out in a freak sledding accident. I wonder how that could've happened. Jack?" Jack blushes and looks at a drawing on the kid's wall.

"Kids, huh?" he asks. Tooth twirls a coin between her fingers and tucks it under the boy's pillow. North sneaks in.

"Oh, I am too late!" he cries.

"Shh!" Tooth and I hiss. Sandy slips into the room, still just as tall. I stare up at him, realizing how much taller he is than me now. He's about the same height as Bunny, without the ears. A good six inches taller than me, I'd say. I pout.

"You're too tall." He flashes a few sand images. His message basically says, "Better than being three feet tall!" I chuckle. "Good point." Bunny pops out of the ground.

"Oh, I see how it is! Teaming up against me so the rabbit gets last place!"

"SHH!" Tooth and I hiss again.

"Now Bunny, this is not competition!" North says. "But, if it was, I WIN! YEEHAW!" The child sits up, first flickers of fear crossing his face, then wonder and excitement.

"Santa Claus? The Easter Bunny? Sandman? The Tooth Fairy! I knew you'd come!"

"Surprise! We came!" Tooth exclaims before laughing awkwardly.

"He can see us?" Jack asks. The boy's eyes scan across the Guardians' faces.

"Most of us," Bunny murmurs. My face, hopeful, falls. 'Course he doesn't see me. There aren't legends about me. Aria Brave is no one.

"This is so cool!" He jabbers on for a while, then a huge greyhound starts awake, growling at Bunny.

"Easy, Abby, easy," the boy says.

"I'm not scared," Bunny says, rolling his shoulder.

"That's a greyhound. Do you know what greyhounds DO to rabbits?" Jack asks.

"Bet it's never met a rabbit like me! 6'1, nerves of steel, master of tai chi," he says. Before he can say anything else, Jack knocks over the alarm clock, making it ring loudly. The dog lunges. "Crikey!" Bunny runs from the dog, bouncing off the walls. I stand in his path, hands on my hips. "Move, sheila!" he yells, coming closer. I hold out my hands.

"Whoa, whoa. No need for all the running." I grab Bunny's arm. "Calm. Calm down, cottontail." The dog barks again and Bunny takes off, pulling me down as he yanks out of my grip. The dog and rabbit dash madly around the room, stepping on me and scratching me multiple times. Sandy, aiming loosely, throws a ball of dream sand. It bounces off a mirror, hits the dog, Bunny, Tooth, and North, who falls onto the boy's bed. He flies into the air, only to be caught by Sandy. Sandy nods his head at him and the boy falls asleep.

"Oh, I wish I had a camera right now," Jack chuckles. Sandy gives him a look. I stand, popping my jaw.

"Damn that rabbit," I say. "Oh! Hold on!" I stand in a corner of the room and pull out my iPod. I snap a picture. "Done. Happy, Jack?"

"Very," Jack grins. A nightmare flashes by the window.

"C'mon, we gotta go!" I say, flinging open the window and chasing the nightmare. Sandy and Jack follow. I spot Pitch on a roof and Jack and I land in front of him. He chuckles darkly, before turning and looking down at Sandy. I then realize how tall Pitch is, about a foot and ten inches taller than Sandy. He jumps back, scared.

"Look, look, I'm sorry I messed with your dreams!" he cries. "Tell you what, you can have 'em back." He rises up on a black cloud and a tsunami of black sand swirls around us. The sleigh crashes towards us.

"WAKE UP, NORTH!" I yell, following Sandy into the sky. Jack lands on the sleigh. A nightmare blocks my path and I struggle to fight it off. The sleigh flies upwards.

"We gotta help Sandy!" Jack yells. I look up. Sandy is on a small cloud of dream sand surrounded by the black nightmare sand. He's whipping the sand around him. Pitch stands higher up, an arrow poised.

"NOOO!" I yell, drowning pout Jack's cry of the same thing. I snap my wings and fly upwards as fast as I can. Pitch looses the arrow. "SABLÉ!" The arrow strikes him in the back. "SABLÉ!" I fly faster, straining my wings. Sandy looks down at his hands, terrified. He falls to his knees. As an almost last-ditch effort, I shoot some blue sand, which delivers bravery as well, up at them. Sandy stands and glares at the Bogeyman. He tilts his head back and shuts his eyes, accepting it. "SANDY! NO, DON'T YOU DARE! DON'T LET IT GET YOU! SANDY!" The sand swallows him and Pitch smiles.


	5. The Warren

**I don't own ROTG.**

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"I'd say sweet dreams, but there are none left," he says. He raises his arms and a wave of nightmares descends. I scream angrily and dive head-on into the wave.

"YOU. BATARD!" I scream. I feel something building, like rage, except DARKER and SCARIER. An explosion of golden sand bursts from my chest and spreads across the nightmares, dissolving them all away, along with the golden sand. After all the nightmares are gone and Pitch disappears, I feel the anger and rage drop right out, leaving me feeling empty, empty and unbearably sad. My wings shut of their own accord and I drop. I hope I fall right to the ground. The pain will prove that I'm not dreaming. Instead, I crash into the sleigh.

"All okay?" North asks, his voice choked slightly.

"Aria's here, Jack's here," Bunny says, and I can hear the barely disguised tears in his voice.

"I-I..." I stammer.

"Aria, what is it?" Tooth asks. I look up at her. Reality sets in and I feel tears well up in my bright blue eyes.

"I-I can't deal with this right now," I stammer. I stand and back away from the concerned Guardians. I turn and jump off the sleigh, spreading my wings as I do.

"Angel!" Jack calls. I swoop away and I feel a cold gust of wind behind me. I land on a roof.

"What do you want, Jack?" I ask, my voice breaking.

"You don't have to deal with this alone! Come on, come back to the Poles." I shake my head.

"I can deal with this alone, I've done it before."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I'm not coming back to the Poles. Go on, Engelures, go to the funeral. You were chosen, I wasn't. I'm going back to France." I spread my wings. Jack grabs my hand.

"You're not going to France," he says firmly, giving me a look. He pulls my arm and I reluctantly fly with him back to the sleigh.

On the ride back, I start to feel numb. Nothing registers, the jingling sleigh bells, Bunny pressing up against me in fear of the sleigh, my hand in Jack's, nothing. I don't even notice we're back at the Poles until North taps me. "Hmm?" I hum, looking up at him.

"We're here."

"Oh."

"We're starting the funeral, c'mon," Bunny says, walking away from the sleigh. Wait... What? Pitch... Sandy... The funeral, right. I shakily climb out of the sleigh and follow Bunny. Jack stands beside me and gently bumps me with his shoulder.

"It's gonna be okay, Angel."

"What will?" I ask. I still feel numb, and I can't seem to grasp that Sandy's gone. Right. Start small, just like last time. Okay, no good dreams... Nothing. Smaller. No golden sand... Nothing, go smaller. No lullabies. That strikes something, go even smaller, Aria. Never seeing Sandy smile again. Mon Dieu, I'm never going to see him smile! And I'll have to tell Eve! Sandy's gone! I feel tears run down my face.

"What? What happened?" Jack asks.

"I think reality set in for her," Bunny says.

I don't remember much, just vaguely watching the funeral in which only the Guardians were included. Afterwards, I sit with Jack in front of a window and pull my hood over my head. I swirl tendrils of blue sand around my fingers and eventually shape it into Sandy. I look up at the sound of faint crackling and I see that Jack has made a Sandy made of frost on the window. I turn my attention back to my sand. I hear footsteps and I look up. North stands above us. "Listen, Aria, Jack, it was not your fault."

"But Sandy-" Jack starts. I turn to stare back out the window.

"Would have been PROUD." I hear more footsteps, but these are... more muted? Yeah. I look up as someone touches my arm. Bunny crouches beside me.

"Hey, sheila, I know it might be too soon, but we wanted to see if something worked."

"What?"

"Can you still make dream sand?" I bring up my model of Sandy and snap my fingers, which normally makes my sand into dream sand. It flickers golden.

"Hey!" I exclaim, hopeful. The sand starts turning black, starting from where the model's heart would be. I let my face, and the model, fall.

"Whoa, whoa, sheila. Don't let your hopes down yet! There's still Easter!" I look up.

"H-huh?"

"Easter is tomorrow! If you all can help me, we can keep those kiddies believing!" I nod and stand.

"I'll help."

"Okay! Everyone to sleigh!" North exclaims.

"Nah, mate. My Warren, my rules." He taps his foot twice on the ground and it opens beneath us. Out of reflex, I try to spread my wings, but I fall and land on my wings. I wince as I slide along the tunnel. I close my wings and come tumbling out of the tunnel. I land on my back with an "oof" and crush my wings yet again.

"Whoaaa!" I hear Jack cry, and suddenly, he's beside me on the grass. I stand and try to look over my shoulder to assess the damage.

"Y'alright, sheila?" Bunny asks.

"I think so..." I stretch my wings and immediately pull them back against me. "Nope. Nope. Ow."

"What happened?"I stretch my wings more slowly, moving my right wing to assess damage. "Right wing's fine, left probably has a mild sprain. I'll be fine." Suddenly, Bunny seems to hear something. He pulls out his boomerangs and poises for an attack. North pulls out his swords. I listen. There are tiny footsteps and squealing. I walk quickly towards the tunnel where the footsteps are coming from. A small something bumps into my legs. I look down. An egg scurries past me. A child comes stumbling after, barely three.

"Wait, Aria!" Jack calls. The child walks through me and I wince. Being walked through, it hurts. It's hard to describe, but it feels kind of like a broken bone where your heart is. The kid giggles and drags an unfortunate elf around by its hat.

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**That's all for today. Probably. ~SpiritofSong**


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